Thursday, December 23, 2010

How to Do a Single Crochet

The single crochet is the first stitch I ever learned, besides the chain stitch. It is used in many patterns e.g. my mouse finger puppet pattern has many single crochets which are abbreviated sc.

Friday, December 3, 2010

American Girl Doll Matching Hats

This is probably one of my favorite crochet projects yet. It fits the American Girl doll perfectly and turned out so cute. I made a matching kid sized one too. I designed it myself but unfortunately I didn't write down the pattern before I gave it away.

For the base of the hat I used Lion Brand Homespun yarn and then just worsted weight yarn for the flowers.

Mouse Finger Puppet

Colors: Pink and Blue
Hook size: I/9

Ch 10 join to 1st ch w/ sl st
Rnd 1
Sc 10, don’t join to 1st st
Rnd 2-6
Repeat rnd 1
Rnd 7a
(ch 1, sc1) 3 times, ch 6, sl st in 1st ch of rnd 7a
Rnd 7b
You now have loop that will later be the nose, work around this loop. Sc 24, (sc the next 2 st tog, sc 1) 3 times, sc 18, (sc the next 2 st tog) 3 times, switch to pink, join to 1st w/ st st, sk 1, dc 2 in next st, sk 1, sl st, tie off
Rnd 7c
Start in the 1st st left of the nose (looking at the front) sc 8, sl st in the side of the nose, ch 1, turn
Rnd 8-10
Sc 8, sl st in the side of the nose, ch 1 tur
Rnd 11
Sc 8, sc over  the top of the nose, don’t join to the 1st sc of this rnd
Rnd 12
Sc 12, don’t join to 1st sc
Rnd 13-14
Repeat rnd 12
Rnd 15
(sc the next 2 st tog) 3 times,
Rnd 16
(sc the next 2 st tog) 3 times, sc the next 3 st tog, sk 1, sl st, tie off

Ear (make 2)
Start with pink,
Row 1
Leave 6in tail at the beg (for sewing)
Ch 3, turn, sk 1, dc 5 in next st, turn
Row 2
Switch to blue, ch 1, sc 2 in ea dc, sl st  in row 1, tie off,


Sew ears on
Add wiggly eyes (I didn't want to risk the glue on eyes coming off and I couldn't find sew-on ones small enough, so I took the glue-on ones and poke a pin through the back to turn them into sew-on ones.)
Weave in tails

It also make a cute "Breath Savers" cover :)

Basic Knitting Loom Hats

These are some of the first hats I ever made, at this point I was learning that I should use a double strand of worsted weight yarn. (On the black hat I did and on the purple hat I didn't)

 For the purple hat I used the green "Knifty Knitter" loom and used the yellow "Knifty Knitter" loom for the black hat.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Bright Hexagon Afghan

This is the first afghan I can call my own. :) It is very similar to a granny square. Of course it has six corners.

 
Hexagon
Ch 4, sl st in 1st to form a ring,
Rnd 1
Ch 3 (this counts as a dc), [dc, ch 2, (dc 2, ch 2) 5 times, sl st in the top of the 1st dc (or the 3rd ch)] in ring
Rnd 2
Ch 3 (this counts as a dc), dc in the corner you just made, (ch1, [dc 2, ch 2, dc 2,] in next corner) 5 times, dc 2 in 1st corner, ch 2, sl st in the top of the 1st dc (or the 3rd ch)
Rnd 3
Ch 3 (this counts as a dc), dc in the corner you just made, (ch 1, dc 2 in next hole, ch 1, [dc 2, ch 2, dc 2,] in next corner) 5 times, dc 2 in 1st corner, ch 2, sl st in the top of the 1st dc (or the 3rd ch)
Rnd 4
Ch 3 (this counts as a dc), dc in the corner you just made, (ch 1, [dc 2, ch1,] in next 2 holes, [dc 2, ch 2, dc 2,] in next corner) 5 times, dc 2 in 1st corner, ch 2, sl st in the top of the 1st dc (or the 3rd ch)

Tie off, weave ends in

Simply put
Ch 4, sl st in 1st to form a ring,
[Ch 3 (this counts as a dc), dc, ch 2, (dc 2, ch 2) 5 times, sl st in the top of the 1st dc (or the 3rd ch)] in ring
*(Dc 2, ch 2, dc 2, ch1)in each corner, dc, ch1, in each hole, all the way around, for the beg corner start it by ch 3, dc 1, then once you’ve been around dc 2, ch 2, sl st, in the 3rd ch from beg* do 3 rnd from *to* or repeat from *to* until it is the desired size

hint: you can get rid of the beg tail by crocheting over it in the first rnd

Monday, November 29, 2010

How to Do a Chain Stitch

The chain stitch is the simplest of all crochet stitches. I have yet to find a crochet pattern that does not include a chain stitch. The chain stitch is used to turn at the end of rows and on the base of many crochet projects. The abbreviation for this stitch is "ch" and the abbreviation for a "yarn over" is "yo".

How to Make a Slip Knot

Many people just tie a knot around their crochet hook when beginning a crochet project, but this is lumpy and tends to stick out in the final product. Here are three methods of creating a slip knot. To test any slip knot you can pull both the working yarn and the tail, if the loop disappears then it was done correctly.